shuttle. we got out here at 5:00 this morning local time. the streets were lined at that time. they're lined right now. everyone seemingly has a camera, taking pictures of the shuttle. it's a truly once in a lifetime experience, fredericka. >> casey wian, thanks so much. later on today, 2:00 eastern we'll talk with shuttle astronaut leroy chow. he's calling today bittersweet. "your money" starts right now. the presidential election is less than one month away and america is headed toward a fork in the road. welcome to "your money." i'm ali velshi. on november 6th, you will choose one of these two roads, the country will follow one of them. today i want to take you into the future, a look at 2016 under a president romney or a second term of president obama. but first, here's where we are today. the u.s.'s largest trading partners are struggling and that

is strengthening the economic storm that's headed over from europe to the united states shores. this week, the international monetary fund cut its forecast for global growth for both this year and next year. that's the world economy and the u.s. economy. the imf cited two reasons things could get worse, first if european lead s fail to support their ailing economies and second if leaders here in the united states let us plunge over the fiscal cliff. the imf sister organization, the world bank citing the same two factors, cut its growth forecast for asia this week as well. now, that's for the next couple of years. where are we going to be in 2016, four years from now, when we're discussing the next u.s. election? that depends on which of these two roads america takes on election day. i'll take you down both paths on this show starting with what 2016 will look like under a president mitt romney. start with jobs. he says 12 million jobs will be created in the next four years.

as i keep telling you, that claim it ridiculous, considering the sluggish growth we're seeing right now and the new downward revision. but for the purposes of this exercise, i'll take him at his word and presume an historic surge in jobs lies ahead. let's talk about taxes next. i'm going to let governor romney explain this for himself. >> well, i've made it pretty clear that my principles are number one, simplify the code, number two, create incentives for small businesses and large businesses to grow. number three, don't reduce the burden on high-income taxpayers. and number four, remove the burden somewhat from middle income people. >> now, you can get all that done in four years we'll have a bran new tax code by 2016. again, it's bold. everybody talks about doing it but nobody's done it really since reagan. finally let's take a look at the deficit. romney is planning to cut a lot more than funding to big bird and pbs. his plans include repealing obama care, reducing foreign aide and privatizing amtrak.

you may notny that's that big of a deal. i use it all the time. romney says privatizing it will save $1.3 billion. the budget is made up a lot of small things. however he does it, his goal is to reduce government spending to 20% of gdp. gdp is the biggest measure of everything we produce in society. he wants to do that by the end 6 his first term. right now government spending is at 25% of gdp. let's shed some more light on what romney's america would look like. kevin hassette is an economic adviser for mitt romney. stevon moore is an editorial writer for "the wall street journal." my good friend christine romans is the host of "your bottom line" right here on cnn. folks, no party or ideological spin today, no using the name obama or the term democrat. pain the me a picture of what the world looks like under romney four years from now using specifics. you can't say things like it will be better, we'll be safer,

everyone will be richer. tell me exactly what happens, the good and the bad. kevin you're responsible for writing some of the policy. i don't go first. >> yes, thanks, ali. i have to say i agree with your setup exactly. i commend your show for really being one of the only places that's talking about the storm in europe. the fact is the world economy is flowing. the u.s. economy is slowing. we're growing probably around 1% in the second half. the fact going forward is if the world economy will turn around, the u.s. will have to be the leader we can't count on europe to start booming and buying all of our stuff and drive growth. and so i think that the u.s. can be a leader regardless of who's president if we do a couple of things. we need what we call a fiscal consolidation. we need to get our deficit in order, but to do it by making changes to entitlements in the long run so we're not harming people today but making those things sustainable and making the bond raters thinking that we're not going to look like greece. we have to get the corporate

average down and small businesses don't see the big tax hike that president obama has proposed. i'm not doing the partisan thing. i was just saying. >> you said president obama. you did a good job. >> yes, okay. >> steven -- >> if we do that we'll have growth. >> steven, governor romney is a smart, successful businessman. that pa rt is not in dispute. it appears like his plan is to cutting costs and becoming more profitable by 2016. americans are not employees of the government, being president is actually very different from being a ceo. i smoke with bill daley last week. he worked in the white house and the public service. he made a good point. he said a ceo can replace 15 or 30 people even in a big company and change it entirely. the budget is predetermined, the board knows it's coming. a president just can't do that. within the constraints of what a president can actually do, really, how is life going to be that different in four years if mitt romney is president? >> you're right. it's like trying to steer an elephant, trying to change the direction of the u.s. government.

that's part of the problem. isn't it? i agree with kevin. i'm a free enterprise guy. i do believe -- let me put it like this. this tax system is a pinto. what we need is a porsche. we need something engineered for rapid growth. i agree with kevin. you bring the rates down. i like the idea of creating a standard deduction that everybody gets and get rid of some of the items in the tax system. i think people would agree that would be more rapid growth in the tax system. i want to add something to what kevin said. i'm high on the energy story, ali. i think over the next four years, you're skeptical of that 12 million job figure, i think we can create easily over a million jobs in the energy sector alone with what's going on with the oil and gas boom. we have so much coal in this country. the president has been skeptical of oil, gas and coal. i think president romney would go after it. the one secretarier in the economy over the last four years that has created more jobs than any other industry has been the

oil and gas industry. i think we could create a lot more jobs in that industry if we got it right. >> you said president obama, too, but generally speaking that was a pretty good analysis. >> sorry about that. >> christine, you know the rule. if mitt romney wins in november, he's still got two very major problems, one of them is the gridlock in washington which has probably as much to do with congress as the president if not more to do with congress and that economic storm blowing in from europe. kevin has said we have to be in good shape. i'm saying that may plea vent us from being in as good shape as we'd like to be. you argue under mitt romney we are going to start looking at government very differently, less paternalistic. fewer economic solutions n. part, ali, because of time. time is passing and time from that emergency of the great recession is passing. the things that the government has done, the expansion of the government and government spending to make a great recession not become a great depression in four more years, no question, exit strategies will be under way to rein in

some of those things. mitt romney says he believes in a safety net and he will repair it as necessary. the safety net is probably way too big. under a president romney, no question, you would see a different way of looking at government and probably a smaller government. now, this being said, gentlemen, i would just like to say the one thing that is certain, that is certain under a president romney by the year 2016 we will all be four years older. >>. >> and i'll have more hair. >> christine wins the prediction contest. all of you stay right there. you mentioned medicare, christine. candidate romney's medicare plan is foggy to some of the 50 million people who depend on it. what is in store for medicare if there is a president mitt romney in the white house? we will bring you the facts and continue this discussion right after this. you're watching "your money." ♪

♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward. anne's tablet called my phone. anne's tablet was chatting with a tablet in sydney... a desktop in zurich... and a telepresence room in brazil. the secure cloud helped us get some numbers from my assistant's pc in new york. and before i reached the top, the board meeting became a congrats we sold the company party. wait til my wife's phone hears about this. [ cellphone vibrating ] [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center, working together has never worked so well. i had[ designer ]eeling enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin. [ rv guy ] enbrel may not work for everyone -- and may not clear you completely, but for many, it gets skin clearer fast, within 2 months, and keeps it clearer up to 9 months. [ male announcer ] because enbrel®, etanercept, suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel. stay top of mind with customers? from deals that bring them in with an offer...

to social media promotions that turn fans into customers... to events that engage and create buzz... to e-mails that keep loyal customers coming back, our easy-to-use tools will keep you in front of your customers. see what's right for you at constantcontact.com/try. you're watching "your money." we're looking into the future right now. it's 2016. safety net programs, entitlements, federal assistance, call them whatever you want for at least half the country, at least in 2012, they are reality. one of biggest questions is medicare. christine romans joins me now. with less than a month to go until the election, there are unanswered questions, clarity lacking about romney's medicare plan. tell me about it. >> it is unclear on three issues critical to the almost 50 million people on medicare, ali

and the ref of us who may rely on it when we get older. the cost to seniors, this only applies to future retirees. paul ryan said during the debate, that's age 54 and under. his plan offers two options. one, a premium support system or a voucher for each senior to buy private insurance from competing providers. the other option say in traditional medicare, what we don't know is whether the voucher will be enough to cover the cost of the traditional medicare option for people who want to stay in it. the romney came pain has not clarified that yet. second, the prescription drug plan. obama fair or the affordable care act saved seen mores more than $600 on average last year. the president says those savings will disappear under romney's plan because he's vowed to get rid of boobama care. romney hasn't said if he'll put a cap on spending for these plans. experts say a cap is needed to promote competition and keep

cost increases under control. romney's running mate paul ryan's own budget plan that he proposed in congress, it includes a medicare spending cap but romney isn't aligning himself with it. without a spending cap, the congressional budget office says it can't score it, ali. >> that's the tough part. hard to score, unclear what's going on. kevin, can you shed light on this? are you able to give us some sense of exactly those three questions that christine has? what medicare will look like for people who receive it in 2016 or sometime after president romney gets elects if he does. >> absolutely. it's important to emphasize, this is a change to the program that's going to affect us, the people who are talking on the show but not people who are currently retired. the basic belief of governor romney and mr. ryan is that if we allow competition between firms for your business, that they're going to get really good at providing services to you that you want and they're going to tailor plans to customers in a way that the government never

does and that that will produce superior plans that cost less. you know, competition tends to do that in society. but if it doesn't, which is one of the concerns that was just raised, people can choose to stay on the normal plan. >> wouldn't all the sick people go into the normal plan? they want to make sure they get everything for their dollar and -- didn't it the create two tiers of medicare then? >> i don't think it would. what would happen you might find the private plans people can buy with the voucher, for one thing, governor romney will have details for the plans. they have to cover things in a specific way. if you take the plan and you're sick you'll be cover. going forward, we have to remember we have a government, ali, i know this is probably something you mention, they did a calculation of the fiscal adjustment that every government around the world has to make. our fiscal adjustment, how big the change has to be so our debt

is sustainable is 8% of gdp. >> right. >> that's the third largest on earth. the fact is what governor romney wants to do is defend these programs but if you go down the road, you're exactly right. for me, what we need to do is create a medicare when i retire that i can know will be there. the fact is i'll have to pay out of pocket. i'm fortunate enough to be a wealthy person. i'll have to pay more out of pocket than i do under the current system. i think that's the crucial thing that's going to change. >> let's break steven in. >> i like what you're talking about. i'm not working for the campaign. i can be more critical. i think the problem with what mr. romney is talking about is it takes too long to save money. this crisis is right around the corner with medicare. it's going to run out of money within the next ten years or so unless we make some changes. yes, kevin, i like what you're talking about. i agree entirely. the competition model makes sense. but i'm not so sure we have enough time. if you look at medicare, social

security and medicaid, by the end of the decade, they're going to take all of our income tax revenues. we're not going to have money left over for anything else we spend money on. >> unless you raise taxes. >> unless you raise taxes. >> unless you raise taxes. >> we need to have more economic growth, i think. there's no question about it. >> so much of what you're saying about what a romney administration will look like is pred kalted on economic growth. what's the estimate you have, in you enact the things that romney wants to enact very quickly, adds 1% a year to gdp growth? >> yes, that's right. that's right. and i think you know, you cover this a lot, firms are sitting on cash. there's all this uncertainty over the fiscal cliff and the big deficits and how that will work out. i think we could unleash a sigh of relief rally if we could get ahead of the curve on policies. >> let me bring up something. you mentioned something earlier i can't avoid. you mentioned amtrak. let's take that as one example. >> you're not going to hate on

amtrak, right? i use it a lot. >> i want to say one thing. i think -- you're going to hate me for saying this. i think wealthy people like yourself don't need a government subsidy to take the train. why are taxpayers paying for people who take the train? my point is we have to start getting serious good what we really need in this country in terms of government benefits. >> although guys like you wouldn't want the government involved in a public/private partnership to build a high-speed rail system. >> i don't like high-speed rail. we have to go through every program and say is this a high priority? do we need to continue to spend money on elmo? oh! you are haters is what you are. >> we cannot solve problems by talking about elmo. all i have to say. >> we could do a whole show on this i like this conversation. thank you for doing that and limiting the use of the term democrat and obama in this one. we'll talk about that in the

next couple segment. >> i like elmo, too, by the way. i want to get that on the record. >> let's reprogram this time machine, if president obama wins a second term. which dream will we carry into 2016. >> a documentary called 2016, obama's america. it argues dire consequences are in store. i'll draw you my own picture, when we come back. ♪

♪ ♪ hi dad. many years from now, when the subaru is theirs... hey. you missed a spot. ...i'll look back on this day and laugh. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

with odor free aspercreme. powerful medicine relieves pain fast, with no odor. so all you notice is relief. aspercreme. forget 2012. forget about it. we're looking into the furt and the year 2016. we just traveled down the road to 2016 under a president romney. now, we're taking another fork in the road. and in some ways it's less of a leap into the great unknown. after all, president obama has been president for four years. he's got a track record from which we can extrapolate. we know what he's done. where he's fallen short. but because this would be his second term, he might be thinking about his legacy and that can change the equation. here's where we are.

based on normal revisions of past jobs numbers, normal revisions always happen. this is the normal course of business. there's no conspiracy here, the department of labor expects that not counting the last jobs report which will come out just days before the election, president obama has already gained back all of those jobs that were lost on his watch. in fact, the department of labor says it's about 325,000 more jobs, although the new jobs tend to be of a lower quality than the ones that were lost. that is often typical after a recession. what happens if obama wins again? that document i was telling you about, 2016, obama's america, it is the second highest grossing documentary in history, fahrenheit 911 was the highest, written by michael moore. this one paints a dire picture. >> obama has a dream. a dream from his father, that

the sins of colonialism be set right and america be downsized. >> now, according to "the washington post," here's what the movie tells viewers. if the president is re-elected the world four years from now will be darkened by the clouds of economic collapse, world war iii and a terrifyingly ascended new united states of islam in the middle east. that view of what obama would do as hand called a deliberate distortion of the president's way of thinking about ut it did make me think about giving you, perhaps, a less politicized version of the next few years and here are three quick snapshots. first of all, health care. that's the big one. obama's first term legacy. by 2016 obama care will be fully entrenched, its provisions almost entirely phased in and 30 million more americans will be covered by health care. second, taxes. if you are in the top 2% of earners you will pay more under obama's plan.

marginal tax rates for families making more than $250,000 will go back to clinton era rates, 39.6% versus 35%. the rich will pay higher investment taxes and you know i think the most important thing is what these two men will do about jobs. they both made the same silly prediction that there will be 12 million new jobs created regardless of who's in office. the nonpartisan congressional budget office predicts that if no policy changes are made, nothing different happens, we just continue on the same road, the unemployment rate will fall to 6.3% by the end of 201. so where could it go if president obama actually got some of his jobs initiatives passed like an infrastructure bank or tax cuts for businesses to hire workers or insource workers to the united states? john king is cnn's chief national correspondent. john, the first term is about getting re-elected. the second term, if it happens, if president obama wins again, he doesn't have to worry about running again.

his second term could be about establishing a legacy. what does that likely mean to americans looking toward 2016. >> second-term presidents do look to go big and make the history books. sometimes they're willing to bend their prior rules to get there. and so would president obama be more open to that big deal? more open to structural changes in medicare and social security, to get what he wants in the tax environment you were just talking about. yes, he most likely would be. however, ali, bill clinton wanted big things in his second term. george w. bush wanted big things. both were hobbled politically, lewinsky scandal in clinton's case and the iraq war in president bush's case. we don't know yet. we know he'd come toll table looking to go big. what would the congress look like? the president would be thinking big, the question is, can he get big? >> yes, that's a good question. ron is the assistant managing editor for "time" magazine. good friend of our show.

what does unemployment look like in 2016 if president obama wins? >> it will be ticking down no matter what. i think if he was able to get through some of the big jobs plans that he's been talking about, an infrastructure bank as you mentioned, really focus on manufacturing, help the resurgence that has been happening, i think we could go down to 6% or maybe lower. it's all about bringing congress together. it's not just about the president as we've seen in the first term. it's going to be very important if he's re-elected that he helps us get over the fiscal cliff. if he can build consensus and we're already starting to see a little give on the republican side. you have tea party supporters talking about possibly higher taxes. >> is there something the president can achieve differently in the second term if the make-up of congress is the same? can that change? can he become more accommodating or schmoozey, what? >> he has to become more involved. if that means more schmoozey,

maybe, but he has to be more involved. both sides are to blame. there's no question the republicans have dug in their heels. anything the president is for, they're against. it's also true, ali, anything therefore, the democrats are against. the democrats have pushed forward their proposals. they haven't passed. the republicans have pushed their proposals, they haven't passed. the president without a doubt will have to work harder on that in a second term. i think he'll get the infrastructure bank. republican governors want that money. the bigger question is taxes, entitleme entitlements, those are bigger questions that the composition of the congress and then how all of the alleged grown-ups act, including the president of the united states after the election. would have a huge factor in the political dynamic. remember, if romney loses this election, president obama gets a second term, and the republicans have a civil war on their hands trying to figure out what happens next. >> what happens next. i hope that infrastructure bank comes to pass. we talked about it on this show as possibly one of the biggest drivers of the economy.

let's talk taxes for a minute. he wants to let the bush tax cuts xpar for families making $250,000 a year. it's been a red herring. he's pushing for the buffet rule so people making more than $1 million would pay at least 30% of their income in taxes. is it only the rich who will be paying more in 2016 if president obama wins or is it going to be everyone? >> well, no, i disagree, ali. this raises a lot of revenue. over a ten-year period, if you follow what the president wants to get done, it's about $800 billion, $850 billion. that's not inconsequential. that's significant. if we're going to achieve what you might call fiscal sustainability, our debt-to-gdp ratio stabilizes and comes down,

we'll need tax revenue. if you look at simpson bowles and other nonpartisan approaches to this, they're saying we need a trillion to a trillion and a half in revenue. >> fair enough. that didn't solve our problem. the revenue we need, it has to come from remarkable economic growth or taxing other people. >> well, you know, if i were -- being a prune the planner i don't think i'd count on the stronger economic growth from changes in the tax code. now, you know, maybe we get lucky and get a stronger economy. we're all better off for that. i wouldn't plan for that. to get that extra revenue we need to achieve fiscal sustainability, i think we need to look at tax reform. we need to think about the kinds of things governor romney is talking about, make the code fairer, make it more equitable, easier to understand and most importantly, generate revenue. >> we'll talk about how we'd get there, discussion just getting started. we'll delve into some of the

ideas president obama could uptake in the future. the issue of gridlock in congress, even with mark talking about tax reform, gridlock in congress has blocked many of president obama's initiatives. would a sec term change that tone and help get some of these things done and speed up the economic recovery? we'll continue on the other side. [ male announcer ] how do you help doctors

turn billion of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it.

special version of "your money," back to the future. we're taking you down the road to the future. 2016, what does america look like if we go down this road, the road of re-electing president obama, giving him a second term in the signature achievement of the president's first term was the passage of health reform, you know, obama care. it's a term the president says he's actually become fond of. in 2016, the congressional budget office estimates that more than 30 million more americans will be insured through the new law, including 23 million who are insured through the health insurance exchanges that were set up as part of that law and 6 million americans will pay penalties

because they're not insured. let's bring our panel back. mark zandy moody's. what does 2016 look like with obama care? without it there will be 30 million fewer unemployed people. how does that help the economy? >> that helps to bring down cost of health care. but there are a lot of different things in obama care that have the potential for so-called bending the health care cost curve, that is slowing the rate of growth and health care costs. this is obviously so key to our economic future and our budget, the cost of medicare and medicaid. things like taxing cadillac insurance plans, that will kick in before the end of this term. fee for results, not fee for service, which is the big change. hopefully that results in some improvement. and also the so-called ed i.p.a.

the intend of that is to focus on things in the system -- in the medicare system that can be changed to reduce wastes and get costs down. >> that's what some referred to as death panels in the past. >> i don't know if these things will work, no one really does. there are experiments in the obama care. maybe they help. at the end of the day we bend that health care cost curve. that would be vital to our economic future. >> the president has been criticized other than by the way on health care which was a long-term big legacy-type project. he's been criticized for having short-term fixes to the economy, lacking a long-term vision. would we see bigger thinks on taxes, for example, the grand bargain we're hearing about. >> i think we will see a change on taxes. you can see it in the polls numbers throughout this election season that people are willing to take a tax hike if they feel that revenue will be used for

things like education, infrastructure, job creating things. you can look across the atlantic to europe and see austerity isn't really working. there are new international monetary funds figures out showing the economies cutting are doing worse. >> the president has tried to make an effective case that congress has been a problem, that's a real divide between americans who are willing to put a lot of the responsibility for the lack of economic progress out of washington on congress. a recent cbs/"new york times" poll found congress has an approval rating of 16%. if the president wins, with his legacy on the line, we talked about this a little bit in the last segment. what honestly can he do? he's tried a lot of things, he's tried different chiefs of staff, different approaches to congress. this is really -- what's the special sauce? how does he get back and say we have to go and we have to change things for america? >> there are many ingredients to a special sauce. some of them are personal. the president will have to do a better job, building better

relations with republicans. the republicans leaders will have to do a better job of accommodating and trying to actually do business with the president. welcome to the world of washington. to get deals done you have to give to get. the president has to give some things up to get some deals. if john boehner is back as the speaker of house and mitch mcconnell whether the republican leader or the majority lead of the united states senate, these are guys who for years have been dealmakers. they've had their own problems internally in their caucuses but they will come to the table looking to do business. the question is what's the composition of the congress, number one. how closely balanced, how big is the president's win on election day? if he wins with 51% of vote, that's not a great mandate. if he wins with 275 electoral votes, just over the 270, that's not a great win. the president understands, the leaders in congress understand. you're talking about that next four years. there will be hiccups in the health care plan. the republicans didn't like it.

some things will prove to be more successful than they thought. other things will be problems. will they have the wherewithal to fix and take advantage of the good things? china's gdp will catch up to the u.s. gdp in that period of time right near the second term. the next president will have to deal with the china challenge. >> well put, john. john king, our chief national correspondent, the assist and the manager editor. thank you all for giving us a peek into the future. did you hear this on thursday night? >> a debt crisis is coming. we can't keep spending and borrowing like this. we can't keep spending money we don't have. >> both sides say they're serious about tackling the national debt. why has neither side put forth a credible plan to do it? that's next on "your money." you've been busy for a dead man.

after you jumped ship in bangkok, i thought i'd lost you. surfing is my life now. but who's going to .... tell the world that priceline has even faster, easier ways to save you money. . . on hotels, flights & cars? you still have it. i'll always have it. so this is it? we'll see where the waves take me. sayonara, brah! you paid...wow. hmmm. let's see if walmart can help you find the same look for less. okay. see? walmart has all these leading eyewear brands and styles. rockstar! really? yeah. oh, wow! oh, black frame looks good on you. yeah? you can get a complete pair starting at just -- $38. really?! and did you know that our glasses come with a free 12-month replacement guarantee? i didn't know walmart had all this. the price is impressive, the quality is too! come to walmart and see for yourself. find quality eyewear brands starting at just $38. only at walmart. what are they fitting, aliens? less expensive option than a traditional lawyer? at legalzoom you get personalized services for your family and your business

that's 100% guaranteed. so go to legalzoom.com today for personalized, affordable legal protection.

it's the $16 trillion question, are president obama or mitt romney serious about tackling the nshl debt in your taxes take pore bo two-theirs of what the government spends each year. the rest comes from borrowing. that shortfall is called the deficit. in fiscal year 2012 congressional budget office says the u.s. government spend.1.1 trillion more than it took in. it's the fourth year in a row that the deficit has topped a trillion dollars. christine is back with a fact check of what the candidates say they would do to reduce that number. christine? >> that's right, ali. both sides claim to have a plan to get the deficit under control. listen to paul ryan speaking about president obama. >> when he said, i promise by the end of my first term i'll cut the deficit in half.

he hasn't even put a credible plan on the table in any of his four years to deal with the debt crisis. mitt romney has put ideas on the table. >> the first part of that statement is true. just one month after taking office, president obama vowed to cut the deficit in half. in 2009, the deficit stood at $1.4 trillion. this year, the congressional budget office puts the number at $1.1 trillion. that works out to a 23% cut. it is a cut but not the 50% the president promised, ali. there are two ways to reduce the deficit, raise more revenue or cut spending. experts agree, you have to have a combination of the two. in 2010, the president set up the simpson bowles commission. paul ryan was a member of that commission but he voted against its recommendations and president obama hasn't endorsed them entirely either. but both sides incorporate elements of the report into their own plan.

president obama's plan is to stop deficits from growing faster than the economy. his budget would reduce the deficit to below 3% of total economic output 0 after a phi years. he would raise more revenue, about $1.5 trillion worth with the wealthy taking the biggest hit. the president would cut from discretionary spending, mandatory spending and defense. his plan doesn't address the rising cost of medicare, medicaid and social security. over the next ten years deficits would rise by $6.4 trillion. it's a good first step but budget experts say that's too high. mitt romney meanwhile has foc focused on the cuts. his economic plan, his plan avoids cutting from defense. mitt romney says he would pursue a balanced budge eight amendment that would require the government to spend only as much as it takes in. he said he would balance the

budget by 2020, the end of his second term. mitt romney's issue is taxes. it calls to are a 250% cut to tax rates across the board. he said he would balance that out by closing loopholes and he would protect middle class families. they found it would be mathematically to lower rates without taking in more money from low and middle-income families. overall, the committee estimates mitt romney's plan would leave debt at 85% of gdp by the end of the decade. we've been telling you about the fiscal cliff, a combination of items that will take effect next year. but they won need to worry as much about the deficit. they project the deficit would fall from $1.1 trillion to 641 billion next year if we fall off that cliff. that would be the biggest single year drop in the deficit since 1969.

ali? >> that would be a bad way to achieve lower spending. >> yes. a recession now -- >> how can we get gas down to $2 a gallon? thanks, christine. coming up next, who is john gault? and why an answer to that question could shed light on another question, who is paul ryan? ♪ change my life again ♪ ♪ fly by night, goodbye my dear ♪ ♪ my ship isn't coming ♪ and i just can't pretend oww! ♪ [ male announcer ] careful, you're no longer invisible in a midsize sedan. the volkswagen passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. that's the power of german engineering. bp has paid overthe people of bp twenty-threeitment to the gulf. billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years.

and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. at red lobster. there's so many choices, the guests love it! [ male announcer ] don't miss endless shrimp, just $14.99! try as much as you like, anyway you like. like new teriyaki grilled shrimp. offer ends soon! my name is angela trapp, and i sea food differently.

that was me... the day i learned i had to start insulin for my type 2 diabetes. me... thinking my only option was the vial and syringe dad used. and me... discovering once-daily levemir® flexpen. flexpen® is prefilled. doesn't need refrigeration for up to 42 days. no drawing from a vial. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. flexpen® is insulin delivery... my way. levemir® (insulin detemir [rdna origin] injection) is a long-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes and is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. do not use levemir® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause symptoms such as sweating, shakiness, confusion, and headache. severe low blood sugar can be serious and life threatening. ask your healthcare provider about alcohol use, operating machinery, or driving. other possible side effects include injection site reactions. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions. get medical help right away if you experience

serious allergic reactions, such as body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat, or sweating. with flexpen®... say good night to vial and syringe. ask your doctor about levemir® flexpen. covered by 90% of insurance plans, including medicare. find your co-pay at myflexpen.com. one of the most important questions of this election, what is the role of government? famed author ayn rand is increasingly taken the spotlight when it comes to that question, especially since the nomination of paul ryan has mitt romney's running mate. bus just who is ayn rand and why is her thinking more relevant today than perhaps ever before in american history? poppy poppy harrow reports. >> reporter: they started cropping up three years ago, after the financial crisis, signs about john galt and "atlas shrugged." for some, ayn rand and the famous novel offer a road map.

>> ayn rand may have the answers for the problems we're having in the country today. >> reporter: among those inspired by rand's writing, vice presidential candidate paul ryan. >> the reason i got involved in publiclarge, if i had to credit one person, ayn rand. >> who was she? >> she was a russian-born jewish intellectual. >> she was the product of a totalitarian culture who developed a fervid sense of individualism and individual rights. >> she was a teenager when the communist army seized her father's pharmacy. >> the red soldiers marched in, shuttered it doors. put a red banner across the door, and her father never worked again. she was there to see the humiliation. >> she came to the u.s. in 1926 and soon became fearful of what she saw, the new deal, social security, big government getting bigger. >> she saw american compinism

begin to blossom or so she thought in the 1930s. >> her most famous book, the fountain head and atlas shrugged paint an ugly picture of big government. she scacalls her philosophy objectivism which values selfishness and advocates complete free market capitalism. as she told mike wallace in a 1959 interview. >> i'm challenging the moral code of al truism, the preseptember that man's moral duty is to live for others. i say man is entitled to his own happiness and that he must achieve it himself. >> what was the role of government? >> very, very, very small. no public schools, no public libraries, no public hospitals. no public roads. >> what's the biggest misperception of ayn rand? >> the biggest misperception is that she's against things, that she's against government.

>> this doctor is the senior fellow at the ayn rand institute. he said her philosophy resonates in a particular way today. >> because she asks people to rethink what the purpose of government is, as a result of this financial crisis and what the government did in response -- >> so she would have hated the bailout of wall street, the bailout of the auto industry. >> yes, she was opposed to handouts for anybody and everybody including business. >> gary weisz things her views can be seen strongly by conservatives who cut back on social programs. >> she made it morally justifiable to be harsh in your treatment of the poor. >> what would happen to people in her ideal society who would not help themselves? >> who would take care of them would be friends, families. they'll do it out of a sense of benevolence, out of generosity. >> but not out of a sense of religious duty.

she was an avowed atheist. >> she thought christianity and communism were two sides of the same coin. >> which may be why paul ryan has stepped back from what he said in 2005. >> i grew up reading ayn rand and it taught me quite a bit about who i am and what my value systems are and my beliefs are. >> her philosophy is ridiculous, i'm a devout catholic. how can you be -- believe in that stuff? >> and rand may have been equally dismissive of today's politicians. >> do you think she would like president obama? >> no. >> would she like mitt romney? >> no. >> would she like paul ryan? >> no. >> why? >> because none of them is a -- a pure capitalist, and none of them agrees wholeheartedly with her. that was the price of admission with ayn rand. >> poppy harlow, cnn, new york. >> inequality is on the rise in the united states. in the last decade, the middle class has been hit hard, seeing

their net worth drop some 28%. a large part of that, of course, the result of the 2008 financial crisis. we'll talk protecting main street from wall street after the break. ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. boproductivity up, costs down, thtime to market reduced... those are good things. upstairs, they will see fantasy. not fantasy... logistics. ups came in, analyzed our supply chain, inventory systems... ups? ups. not fantasy? who would have thought? i did.

we did, bob. we did. got it. ♪ ♪ hi dad. many years from now, when the subaru is theirs... hey. you missed a spot. ...i'll look back on this day and laugh. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

have more fiber than other leading brands. they're the better way to enjoy your fiber. the economy is center stage in this election as it should be. we laid out what your life could look like in 2016 depending on who is elected president next month. we hang between gridlock in washington and in the crisis in europe. and on the sidelines is the kwekz between our economic struggles and the financial crisis that caused them. we heard few specifics from either candidate about how they would prevent another financial meltdown. wall street reform matters and anyone committed to a healthy economy should be committed to a regulated system. she was the first to warn about the subprime mortgage crisis

after the bubble burst, it was her job to keep the banking system and moreover your bank account from meeting disaster. she's won praise from democrats and republicans alike for her success. she'll be with us next week to discuss her new book "bull by the horns, fighting to save main street from wall street and wall street from itself." where want to know what you think about the government's response to the 2008 financial crisis. do you feel like your money is betting protected now? has the country done enough to rein in the greed and irresponsible behavior that drove our economy into the worst recession it has ever seen? find my on facebook, tweet my, i read them all. thanks for joining us the conversation this week on "your money." we're here every weekend. have a great weekend.

hello, everyone. i'm fredricka whitfield. the shuttle "endeavour" is slowly, 2 miles an hour, making its way through the streets of los angeles. on crenshaw drive in the inglewood section of l.a. it's on its way to the california science center where it will be on permanent display for thousands of southern californians who have only seen it on their tv screens, seeing it up close is quite the experience. you can see it's going particularly slow right now because one of its wings is ever so close to that tree. they're not going to cut down the tree, but we understand they're trimming a few branches or at least they have had to trim a few branches of some trees so that the "endeavour" does not make cack. and remember, this is l.a., well known for its traffic jams, but endeavour